Magic lantern



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. EMERSON AND VICTOR H. EMERSON, OF NEXVARK, NEXV JERSEY.

MAGIC LANTERN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,707, dated February 13, 1894.

Application filed January 26, 1893: Serial No. 459,785. (No model.)

To whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE E. EMERSON and VICTOR ll. EMEEsoN, citizens of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Magic Lanterns; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to produce upon canvas, all the motions of an animal or other moving objects automatically and at the same time more perfectly than heretofore.

The invention consists in the improved apparatus and in the arrangement and combination of the several parts thereof, as herein set forth and finally pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures, Figure 1, represents, partly in elevation and partly in section, an apparatus embodying our improvements. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the same, some of the parts being shown in elevation. Figs. 3 and 4 represent certain detail views. Fig. 5, is a central longitudinal section of the apparatus, a ring being shown at the outer ends of the plates for assisting in securing them in position, and Fig. 6 is a similar view of a portion of the apparatus to show the construction more clearly of the mechanism for releasing the lever that moves the picture drum, the drum being shown released ready to be moved longitudinally by the spring within the feed screw.

In said drawings, A, designates a dark box or casing in which the working parts, principally, are inclosed or contained. 13, designates a frame or support, secured to the bottom of said box, in which the said parts are mounted.

C, designates the head of a hollow polygonal revolving wheel open at one end and closed at the other, the periphery of which is composed of a series or succession of removable plates, d, of glass or other transparent material, upon which the pictures to be thrown upon the canvas or screen are painted or photographed, as will be understood. To properly sustain said glass plates the head of said wheel is provided with a series of partitions 6, which project therefrom far enough to accomplish the purpose and are firmly secured, at one end, in the periphery of the head. A grooved ring 0, Figs. 5 and 6 may be slipped over the outerends of the plates to assist in holding them in place, in which case the partitions may be dispensed with. Thus the spaces between the partitions form recesses or seats to receive and aid in supporting said plates, as will be understood. To the center of the head is firmlysecured a hollow feed screw D, and it and the head are mounted upon a hollow and slotted shaft E, which is mounted in the frame B, as shown, and is rotated by a crank, F. At one end of the frameis an arm G, projecting into the wheel and upon which is pivoted or fulcrumed a lever ll, having at its inner end a tooth,f, which engages the thread or spiral groove 9 in the feed-screw thus causing the wheel to move upon the shaft, longitudinally, as the latter and the wheel are rotated, thereby bringing the pictures upon the glass plates in succession between the condenserand the object lens thus showing, for example, all the movements of a horses body, limbs, &c., or any other object when in motion, upon the canvas or screen. The wheel, here shown, has twenty-foil r plates, or faces, say nine inches in length, and revolves nine times to reach the limit of its movement upon the shaft; therefore in one revolution of the wheel there will be shown twenty-four ditferent views of as many movements as will be made by the horse during the time of each revolution of the wheel until the limit is reached and the tooth enters the annular groove, g at the outer end of the feedscrew, at which point the wheel may be revolved as long as may be desired without moving horizontally, and will thus reproduce the movements above described for any length of time desired, or until the lever H, is depressed at the outer end by means of a trip-rod h connected with a crank 2", upon the gear, r, and which engages alip j on the lever H, Figs. 1 and 2, whereby the tooth will be disengaged from the annular groove and the wheel be returned to its initial position by means of a spring, 2', as will be understood upon reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5. p

K, designates an elbow-tube provided with a lens, j, and a deflector Z, through which tube the light passes and is thrown upon the pictures by means of said deflector as the mouth of said tube is uncovered by openings 00., in a disk, m, which is rotated by means of a train of pinions and gears 0, p, q, r, as will be understood upon reference to Figs. 1 and 5. Thus, it will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, that the disk m, which carries the small pinion 0, is driven quite rapidly by the larger gear p, while the gear 1', which carries the crank, 1", and meshes with the small pinion q carried by the said gear 19, is rotated very slowly and releases the feed-screw once at each revolution thereof unless the trip-rod be thrown out of engagement with the lever, H, or said crank i, as it may be.

It may be observed that instead of having the head 0 and plates (1 made separately and removable, they may be, cast, solid, orinstead of the periphery of the wheel being composed of separate plates it may be cast solid and have as many or as few faces as may be determined upon and be removably secured to the head, as will be obvious.

In order to preventundue concussion or jar when the feed-screw is released and the wheel returns to its initial position an air-cushion is formed between the piston, 25, which is preferably secured to the wheel by a bent rod 15' and the outer end of the hollow or tubular shaft, E, Figs. 3 and 5, for the purpose of causing the movement of the wheel to slacken and reach the limit thereof without concussion, as will be understood.

V, designates a gas, oil, electric or other light which may be employed in operating the device.

In operating the device, it will be seen, by reference to Figs. 1,2 and 5, that as the Wheel is revolved the picture-plates, or faces of the periphery of the wheel pass in succession between the lensj and the projector W, while, at the same time the wheel moves on the shaft E longitudinally; thus the pictures of succeeding or successive movements will follow one another in a spiral line upon the faces, as indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 5.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is 1. A magic lantern, combining therein a dark box, a condenser and projecting lens mounted therein, a wheel also mounted in said box and having a transparent periphery upon which the pictures to be exhibited upon the screen are painted or photographed, a hollow feed-screw carried by, and centrally located with respect to, said wheel, a shaft, upon which said wheel and feed-screw are mounted, and means for revolving said wheel and for moving it longitudinally upon said shaft, said parts being arranged substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a magic lantern, the combination with the dark box, of a shaft mounted upona suitable frame or support in said box, a revoluble wheel mounted on said shaft and having a transparent periphery ,upon which the pictures may be painted or photographed, an elbow-tube projecting into the body of said wheel and carrying a lens and deflector, and means for operating said wheel and causing the pictures to pass in succession between the condenser and projector, as described and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of a picture-carrying wheel, removable plates therein provided with pictures a hollow shaft passing through the grooved hub of said wheel, a spring carriedby said shaft, a toothed lever adapted to engage with said grooved hub, and means for rotatingsaid shaft and wheel; said parts being arranged to operate as described, and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of a picture-carrying wheel, a lens-tube projecting into said wheel, a rotatable perforated disk located between the outer end or mouth of said tube and the light and adapted to alternately open and close the mouth of said tube as said wheel is rotated, as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination in a magic lantern of a picture carrying wheel having pictures spirally arranged in its periphery and means for imparting simultaneously thereto a rotary and a horizontal movement as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our hands this 21st day of January, 1893.

GEORGE E. EMERSON. VICTOR H. EMERSON. Witnesses:

OLIVER DRAKE, OSCAR A. MICHEL. 

